I-10 crash backs up traffic as thousands leave town post-Coachella
About 100,000 people who left the Empire Polo Club in Indio Monday morning following the first weekend of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival began a slow westward excursion in bumper-to-bumper freeway traffic that was worsened by a series of car crashes.
The exodus out of the desert flooded westbound Interstate 10 with cars, which in addition to a few non-injury crashes, slowed traffic to a crawl. Stop-and-start traffic stretched from Washington Street in Indio to as far west as Banning throughout the morning.
A multi-vehicle crash just before 8 a.m. west of Washington Street started the morning commute off, followed by a handful of other westbound crashes, including a 4-vehicle crash near Banning at around 10 a.m., a 12:30 p.m. crash near the Cook Street offramp in Palm Desert that blocked the right lane of the freeway, and a car that slammed into a big rig just before 1 p.m. near Whitewater, blocking the right lane there as well.
No injuries were reported by the California Highway Patrol, but the collisions did lead to momentary lane blockages along the highway, contributing to the traffic woes that traditionally accompany the annual festival.
“Anybody westbound on Interstate 10 through Indio and all the way to Los Angeles should expect delays,” Indio Police Department Sgt. Dan Marshall said.
The California Highway Patrol planned to put extra officers on the roads to help keep traffic moving, according to the sergeant. Caltrans suggested detours on other area highways including state Route 62 via Twentynine Palms.
Congestion was also reported Monday morning on state Route 111 in Palm Springs and Indio, another possible route to circumvent Interstate 10 through the Coachella Valley.
Festival-goers braved not only traffic, but hot and windy weather conditions during the festival. Much of the crowd put on bandannas and sunglasses in the face of high winds Friday and Saturday and endured temperatures of up to 87 degrees when the winds died down Sunday, said Marshall.
“We had a little dehydration requiring medical aid,” he said. “When it’s windy here we have allergies and breathing treatments.” Marshall said he did not have figures on the numbers of people treated. “With 100,000 people you get the same amount of medical calls as a city the same size,” Marshall said. He added that arrest numbers won’t be released until Tuesday morning.
The grand finale of the first weekend of the Coachella Festival was Scottish DJ, singer and songwriter Calvin Harris. Harris is the boyfriend of Taylor Swift and she was photographed at the festival. But he brought Rihanna on stage during his set, which followed a performance by Sia.
Among the weekend’s other performers were Guns N’ Roses, Ice Cube, Snails and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes.
The cycle of traffic, crowds and music repeats next weekend when the Coachella Festival returns, followed the next weekend by the Stagecoach country festival, Marshall said.
Be sure to check out our Coachella Survival Guide as the crowds return for the second weekend of the festival.
